Monday, September 1, 2008

How To Win Money in Las Vegas

If you are a high roller who doesn’t care much about the money you can potentially lose playing craps in Las Vegas, you don’t need to read this post. This post is more for players who want to learn how to play craps and not lose your shirt while doing that. On my last weekend’s trip to Las Vegas I learned how to play craps on the house money and bring home some fat winnings.

I and my boyfriend stayed at the Mandalay Bay. In case you don’t know, Mandalay Bay is one of the MGM Grand & Mirage Hotel chains in Las Vegas and one of the nicer ones. My boyfriend was comped a room for two nights and free show tickets with some amazing seats. When I say “comped” what I mean is that the room and the show tickets were complimentary from the hotel hosts (people who give away freebies to high rollers). So, in order to justify Mandalay Bay’s free invitation we had to play a certain amount of time so that they would keep inviting us (well, actually him, cause I am not a high roller).Playing craps is a tricky proposition unless you really know what you are doing, and from what I know, my boyfriend usually brings some winnings home. This time he taught me his system, but first let me tell you how I play.

Usually I put a bet on the pass line until a number comes up. As long as there is a seven or eleven you just get paid on the pass line, but once someone rolls a number, that number has to be repeated in order for the pass line bet to win. Say, someone rolls a four, thus the shooter has to repeat the four. I usually place bets on each number, such as four, five, six, eight, nine and ten and keep collecting winnings until seven comes up. Sometimes I turn off my bets, meaning my bets are not playing. You can turn off any bet except for the pass line bet, in which case once seven comes up, you don’t lose your bets other than the pass line bet.

But what my boyfriend taught me was that you actually get paid less on numbers such as four and ten, because when those numbers come in, the casino takes a higher percentage from the winnings. The best bets in the house are six and eight. Even though they don’t pay as much and you have to bet higher, the casino does not take as high percentage from each pay off when those numbers come in. So, even though the four and the ten pay higher odds, you are actually getting ripped off by the casino.

The best payout on those numbers is when one of them comes up on a pass line. Then double your bet behind the pass line even though the probability of those numbers is not as high.

Another great way to play a long time, chill and get your player points up is to play video poker. There are a number of video poker machines as well as poker bars. Video poker bars are regular bars where you can sit down and have a drink, with the addition of video poker machines embedded into the bar. The benefit of playing at a video poker bar is that you can get drinks as fast as you want them without waiting for a waitress to come around. And of course if you play, the drinks are comped (meaning they are free on the house). Video poker is a slow game and you don’t lose nearly as fast as you would, playing a fast-paced slot machine. It’s a great place to sit down, chat with other people at the bar and just chill without losing too much money.